Aeroacoustics effects of localized surface heating on wings for integrated thermal management

The present study focuses on the aeroacoustics properties of an electric aircraft wing with surface heating from excess waste heat for thermal management applications. An important challenge for electric aircraft design is an increased rejection of waste heat. In this research, a novel approach, which consists in utilizing waste heat emissions in increasing the temperature of the wing surface, is assessed to analyze its impact on the drag coefficient and noise emissions. For this purpose, Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes simulations of a two-dimensional airfoil are performed. The noise emissions from the airfoil are predicted using Amiet's model. The configuration and operating conditions are chosen in a way to be representative for typical operation of electric aircraft, such as Vertical Takeoff and Landing aircraft. A parametric study is performed to assess the impact of different parameters, which include the heat flux intensity, the Reynolds number, the angle of attack and the location of heating on the airfoil surface, on the lift and drag coefficients and noise emissions. It is shown that heating the suction side of the airfoil deteriorates the aerodynamics efficiency of the wing, which can reach 4.5% of drag increase for the highest heat flux, while it reduces the noise emissions from the wing by around 6 dB for the same heat flux. Heating the pressure side has shown a reduction of 3.7% in the drag coefficient for the optimal heating position and at the highest heat flux with negligible impact on the noise.